Heartworn Highways (1976)

The country pick for anyone who prefers songwriters to rhinestones. James Szalapski filmed the Texas and Tennessee scene in the last weeks of 1975 and the first of 1976, catching early performances by Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, David Allan Coe and Charlie Daniels just before outlaw country broke. There is no narration and no staged interviews, and the scene where Van Zandt's "Waiting Around to Die" moves Uncle Seymour Washington to tears is one of the great moments in any music film. Free with a library card on Kanopy and Hoopla only, so check your library before you plan around it.